HANOVER, N.H., September 8, 2007 —An array of alumni leaders at Dartmouth College have embraced the decisions announced by the College's Board of Trustees earlier today to improve the governance and structure of the Board, while preserving strong alumni participation in the Board's membership.These leaders represent the Alumni Council, the Association of Alumni, and the Class Officers Association, among others.
Said Richard Silverman, president of the Alumni Council, representing all alumni and composed of representatives across the alumni body, “We are very pleased that the Council's role in evaluating and nominating candidates for the Board of Trustees has been preserved.Council members truly represent the spectrum of Dartmouth's 68,800 alumni from local clubs, classes, affiliated groups and the alumni at large. With a larger Board, we are confident that our role in helping evaluate capable candidates from our alumni body will be more important in helping secure skilled and experienced alumni for Dartmouth. We look forward to working with the Association of Alumni to improve the election process, as the Board has directed.And, we are eager to expand the historic and productive partnership alumni at the College have with the Board, and build on the expanded opportunities for communication between the Board and alumni, to further the College's mission.”
William Hutchinson, president of the Association of Alumni, the organization that oversees alumni trustee elections, among other things, stated, “We too are very pleased with the Trustees' recommendations, since they preserve the role of the petition candidate and give us the opportunity to improve the election process. As a past petition candidate myself, I have discovered how important it is not simply to criticize but to work effectively with colleagues and address issues and challenges productively.These changes will make the Association's role in election oversight clearer and should result in elections that are fairer, less costly, and less politicized, to the benefit of all candidates but most essentially, to the benefit of Dartmouth, the College we all love with great passion. Dartmouth is a close family, and the attempts by those alumni and outsiders to advance their own agendas and smear the College in the national press are unacceptable.We look forward to working with all alumni and the Board to refocus on our critical mission of ensuring that Dartmouth remains the pre-eminent undergraduate institution that it is today.”
Added Mary Conway, president of the Class Officers Association, the umbrella organization for alumni that manages more than 60 Dartmouth classes, “Dartmouth's volunteers will welcome the Board's decision. These enhancements will enable us all to focus once again on preserving our critical class activities, undistracted by elections and politicizing. Dartmouth classes, clubs, and affiliated groups are the lifeblood of the close alumni relationship with the College, and we can now go about our varied roles, knowing that the Board of Trustees has heard our concerns and supports us so strongly. We too look forward to working with our fellow alumni in moving ahead in closer connection with the College and Board, to deepen the relationships of alumni with the College.”
Dartmouth College's Board of Trustees announced a series of changes earlier today to its Board structure, including expanding the Board by eight charter seats; retaining the alumni election process and opportunities for petition candidates but directing the Alumni Council and Association of Alumni to improve the process and feature majority rule rather than approval voting; and increasing Board subcommittees, including ones focused on alumni engagement, student life and academic affairs.
Dartmouth College, based in Hanover, New Hampshire, is one of the pre-eminent undergraduate colleges in the world, with a student body of approximately 4,100 and a passionate alumni body comprised of some 68,800 members throughout the world. For more information, see www.dartmouth.edu.
FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT:
Rick Silverman: (617) 242-7781
Bill Hutchinson: (781) 452-7006
Mary Conway: (617) 244-9682
